Impact of Pomegranate and Other Nutraceutical-rich Plant By-product Fortification on the Physicochemical, Rheological, Nutritional, Antioxidant, and Sensory Properties of Ice Cream

Ice cream is a popular dairy product with high consumer acceptance, making it an excellent carrier for functional ingredients. This study investigated the effects of pomegranate peel powder (PPP; Punica granatum L.) on the physicochemical, rheological, nutritional, antioxidant and sensory attributes of buffalo-milk ice cream. A control formulation and three formulations containing 0.5% (T1), 1.0% (T2) or 1.5% (T3) PPP (w/w) were prepared. The powder was characterised for proximate composition, mineral content and antioxidant activity, while the ice cream formulations were assessed for specific gravity, weight per gallon, overrun, melting resistance, compositional attributes, bioactive compounds and sensory quality. Selected properties were monitored during eight weeks of frozen storage at −18 °C. Increasing PPP concentration raised specific gravity from 0.739 in the control to 0.942 in T3 and reduced overrun from 39.77 to 26.24. Fresh T3 ice cream had a total solids content of 39.01 compared with 36.01 in the control and showed greater melting resistance. The reported DPPH radical-scavenging values increased from 5.12 in the control to 46.72 in T3, although these values declined during storage. The highest total sensory score was obtained by T1 (95.34), compared with 90.64 for the control and 85.97 for T3. These findings indicate that PPP can enhance selected compositional, structural and antioxidant properties of ice cream; however, sensory acceptability decreased at the highest inclusion level. The results support balancing functional enrichment and sensory quality when selecting a formulation.